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Spring is Near!

By Jackie Nye, North Dakota Horizons staff writer

How many of us could have ever predicted the mild winter North Dakota had this year? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that this winter was the fourth warmest on record for North Dakota. As spring is fast approaching, I look forward to the green grass returning, more sunshine and of course the spring issue of the North Dakota Horizons. The image to the left shows Sleepy Hollow Park in Bismarck, which shows the snow has melted and the green grass is starting to appear.

After the brutal winter we had in 2010, most people anticipated this year to be an equally rough one. I started hearing rumors in late September that The Farmer’s Almanac predicted we would see record snowfall of up to 200 inches for the winter of 2011. I started bracing myself for the weather that was ‘sure to hit us.'  October rolled around and everyone joked as to when we would get our first snowfall. Somehow we got almost no snowfall in October. I considered this a huge blessing. One less month of winter was perfectly okay with me!

November quickly came and left with above average weather. With the holidays just around the corner, I was starting to wonder if we would ever get winter weather. I was secretly hoping for a white Christmas. I got my wish and we did in fact get snow just a few days before Christmas. We didn’t get much snow and it sure didn’t last long, but it was just enough to make the holidays feel magical like it did when I was a child.

When the new year came and didn’t bring winter with it some North Dakotans got increasingly frustrated. Many residents enjoy skiing, snowmobiling and playing in the snow in the winter months. I also enjoy those activities, but I took full advantage of the unusual weather and enjoyed going for walks outside, sometimes without even wearing a jacket!

Now that March is here, I have a bad case of spring fever. Although we only had a few weeks of true North Dakota winter weather, I am ready for all the things spring has to offer. This morning as I walked into work I heard birds chirping and even saw a squirrel running around on the sidewalk. I think it’s safe to say spring is officially on its way!

Inspirational North Dakotans

by Alexis Brinkman, Staff Assistant

It seems more and more these days we’re reading and hearing about North Dakota in the news.  Gone are the days when recognition for our extreme weather was our state’s only claim to fame.

Most of the news today focuses on our robust economy, low unemployment levels, and the booming oil industry.  Certainly, these are all great things to be recognized for.  Professional filmmaker and native North Dakotan Matt Fern, however, is doing something different.  Matt started The Daily Dakotan, an innovative video series profiling different North Dakota residents and their unique contributions to the community.  "With Daily Dakotan, I wanted to explore the North Dakota community," says Fern. "I thought by letting individuals tell their diverse stories, I would ultimately start to tell the story of North Dakota."

 

 

The first episode of the online series premiered November 21, 2011, and new episodes and bonus clips were added to their YouTube channel every weekday through the end of 2011.  The Daily Dakotan’s first season featured a Rubiks Cube whiz-kid, boutique owner, tattoo artist, photographer, Santa Claus, and many more inspirational individuals following their dreams right here in North Dakota.

Check out The Daily Dakotan’s Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages, and stay tuned for the 2012 season.  Matt knows what we at North Dakota Horizons have known for years – it’s the people that make North Dakota so great.

There’s a First Time for Everything

By Kylie Blanchard, Staff Writer

2011 has been a year of “firsts” for me. I planted, grew, and harvested my first garden (and purchased my first garden gnome, much to my husband’s dismay), I went out on my first…and last!...Black Friday shopping excursion, and, recently, I took one of my biggest leaps and dove into my first-ever deer sausage-making extravaganza.

The Fall issue of North Dakota Horizons highlighted our state's tradition of hunting in the Hunting Dakota With Roosevelt program. And, for many in North Dakota, making deer sausage is a rich tradition and an extension of the long-standing tradition of deer hunting. Over the years, many meat grinding and stuffing systems have been developed, smokers built, recipes tested and tweaked, and freezers filled - all in the name of deer sausage.

I myself enjoy eating deer sausage, but I leave the hunting to my husband and have never had much of an interest in witnessing the process of making sausage. But we were invited by our close friends to join in their sausage-making weekend and, I’ll admit, with some hesitation I agreed to join in on this adventure.

But after taking part in the big event just once, I believe the process of making deer sausage is about much more than the end product. It brings friends and family together in a tradition of story sharing, recipe swapping, and eating. And, boy-oh-boy, did we eat!

My day started at 9 a.m. when my husband, son and I arrived at an already set-up and bustling shop. We were introduced to those we didn’t know and then were promptly handed aprons, gloves and knives to join in cutting up meat for the grinder. After the cutting was finished, the grinding, mixing and stuffing commenced; along with the making of the first of many sausage patties used to test each batch. In a whirlwind of activity over the next eight hours a continuous stream of grinding, mixing, taste testing, stuffing, hanging, smoking, eating, cooling, eating, packaging and eating sausage took place.

I found my place in the system as the runner, taking the stuffed sausage links from the stuffing table to the smoking racks. Now in total, when the many batches of country sausage, breakfast sausage and summer sausage were completed, over 340 pounds of sausage were made and I carried almost all of it…one link at a time (details, details). In between running, I helped monitor the continuous supply of test sausage patties in the fry pan, tested sausage, packaged sausage, ate sausage and had a great time talking, laughing and hearing stories of sausage-making weekends of the past.

When the last batch of sausage, the summer sausage, went in the smoker, it was then time to clean up shop and sit down and enjoy the camaraderie of the day and, of course, eat sausage. I will admit, I tried every batch except the final summer sausage that came out of the smoker after 9 p.m.…I had just reached that point…

When the day was said and done, we were all exhausted, covered in some form of raw sausage meat and plenty full, but happy to have taken part in the experience. Our freezer is now full of delicious country sausage that I am looking forward to having along side my waffles (maybe in a month or two, however, after all the sausage I ate in one day!); but even more important, I have some great memories and pictures of the weekend and am already looking forward to next year. Hopefully our current supply of sausage lasts until then…

The Lights of the Holiday

By Andrea Winkjer Collin, Editor, North Dakota Horizons

So what puts you in the holiday mood?  It helped me that we received enough snow to blanket the ground with white last week. 

Lights brightening these short winter days make a big difference, too.  Every community has its own traditions, but here in Bismarck, the lighting of the Capitol Christmas Tree and the kitschy red and green tree design on the windows of the Capitol tower are two of them. In my hometown of Williston, the beautiful lights in Harmon Park in the center of the city, have never failed to inspire.

Brian Austin of the State Historical Society of North Dakota captured this photo at dawn this morning as he went to work at the North Dakota Heritage Center.  Just looking at this photo draws me into the holiday spirit a bit more.

I like that the venerable statue of Sakakawea shows in the photo.  We wrote about her 100 years on the Capitol Grounds in our last issue of North Dakota Horizons -- oh, the stories she could tell!

What landmarks and traditions inspire you where you live?  So many of them have beautiful stories and origins. 

Wherever you are, I hope that this holiday season will bring you happiness.

Weather brings the holiday mood

By Andrea Winkjer Collin, Editor, North Dakota Horizons

After the weather challenges North Dakotans endured during most of this year, the beautiful fall we have enjoyed has been much appreciated.  I have walked outside later this year than during any other fall in memory, and with no permanent snowpack on the ground yet, we may be walking after Thanksgiving dinner next week.

It has been hard to grasp that Thanksgiving is next week -- who is thinking about it without the winter weather that usually has greeted us this time of year?

When the temperatures dropped to below 30 degrees this week, the holiday baking bug finally hit me.  Because we associate holidays with cold weather, I ask again, who is thinking about that when it has been so nice?

So last night I got going with a batch of flatbread.  Despite the great food I ate during the Germans from Russia Heritage Tour I wrote about in the fall issue of North Dakota Horizons, I was not ready to try anything new. I turned to the same Norwegian recipes that spell tradition in my family.

Although we always try to make lefse, last night I decided to do flatbread, that crispy cracker-like bread that is as addictive as popcorn. Made like lefse, flatbread is easier to put together because it isn't made with potatoes.  It's easier to roll out and bake, too. 

Pictured here are the fruits of my labors last night.  If I make nothing else, I will be able to hold my head high at Thanksgiving dinner with this traditional contribution.

I hope you enjoy your preparations for the holidays, whatever they may be.  I suppose we could also be putting up our Christmas lights during this still-mild weather, but nah, that would be too easy!

 

 

 

 

 

A Number 1 Day!

By Andrea Winkjer Collin, Editor, North Dakota Horizons

Today is a Number 1 day -- the only time in this century that the month day and year will all be composed of ones.

The fact that today is also Veterans Day makes it even more special. Some of us are fortunate to have the day off work, but regardless, all of us should be taking the time today to remember what our country's veterans mean to us and our country.

Today, like every Veterans Days, I am remembering my father-in-law, the late Everett Collin, who was a very deserving member of the Greatest Generation.

Ev served in the Eighth Air Force from 1941-45, and was stationed in England from 1943-45. He flew and helped planned B-24 bombing missions over Nazi Europe. One of the missions he was involved with was the August 1943 raid on the Axis oil fields in Ploesti, Rumania. He lost several friends on that raid, where some 50 B-24s were shot down and more than 500 airmen were killed or missing. When we got him to talk about this raid in the late 1980s, he teared up as he remembered that day.

Ev, who died in 1998 at the age of 82, is shown above center with cohorts at the age of 26 in the Western Zone of Germay in May 1945.

He was awarded the Bronze Star, which his children knew nothing about until they discovered it buried in a box in their Minnesota basement in 1978. Ev said those who really deserved medals like that never made it out of the war.

Regardless of their age or the conflict in which they served, I hope you all have veterans in your families or lives who today can be an inspiration to you as you observe Veterans Day. I try to remember them more than once a year on this day.

Happy Veterans Day to all on this Number 1 Day!

 

Happy Birthday North Dakota!

By Kylie Blanchard, Staff Writer

Today marks the 122nd anniversary of North Dakota's statehood. In honor of this day, I did a little digging into the newly released 2011-2013 North Dakota Blue Book and found some interesting information on our state's beginnings:

"On March 2, 1861, President James Buchanan signed the bill creating the Dakota Territory, which originally included the area covered by both Dakotas as well as much of Montana and Wyoming. Beginning about 1877, efforts were made to bring Dakota into the Union as both a single state and as two states. The latter was successful, and on November 2, 1889, both North and South Dakota were admitted.

Since President Benjamin Harrison went to great lengths to obscure the order in which the statehood proclamations were signed, the exact order to which the two states entered is unknown. However, because of alphabetical position, North Dakota is often considered as the 39th state."

The name Dakota was taken from the Sioux Indian language which means "friend" or "ally." (And many will tell you this rings very true of our state and its residents.) Along with "Friendly," the Blue Book also explains the many nicknames North Dakota has collected since officially becoming a state.

The "Roughrider State" honors Theodore Roosevelt's time in the Badlands; the "Flickertail State" refers to the characteristic tail flick of the many ground squirrels across North Dakota; and the "Peace Garden State," which was formally adopted as the state's nickname by the 1957 Legislature, honors the International Peace Garden between North Dakota and Manitoba.

All of this information and much, much more can be found in the 2011-2013 North Dakota Blue Book, which was officially released on Monday in a ceremony in the state capitol's Memorial Hall. The latest edition of the Blue Book profiles "North Dakota Fossil Resources," but the core of this biennial publication has remained the same since 1995.

The book contains information about the state not readily found in other publications such as statistical data and information about the state's symbols and awards, elected officials, agencies, judiciary, legislative, federal-state relationships, education and elections.

Fifteen editions of the Blue Book are also now available online through both the homepages of the North Dakota Secretary of State, www.nd.gov/sos, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota, www.history.nd.gov. The Blue Book also includes a DVD and sells for $20 at the Museum Store at the North Dakota Heritage Center, online at www.history.nd.gov or by calling 701-328-2666. 

So, today, celebrate North Dakota by grabbing your copy of the 2011-2013 North Dakota Blue Book (and maybe even a piece of birthday cake) and learning even more about our great state, its great people and its bright future.

Happy Birthday North Dakota! For 122 years old, you are looking pretty good!   

Hunting Dakota with Roosevelt: Making a lasting impact in North Dakota

By Kylie Blanchard, Staff Writer

This weekend marks the fourth annual Hunting Dakota with Roosevelt event, which honors the state's military, raises money for the fight against cancer and incorporates the North American Model of Conservation on the very land where Theodore Roosevelt lived and hunted.

The weekend provides military returned from deployment the opportunity to reconnect with other veterans, and also supports patients battling cancer, thanks landowners, volunteers and sponsors, and builds camaraderie among a group of connected individuals through hunting.The photo above, taken by Monte Rogneby, shows the 2010 Hunting Dakota with Roosevelt participant.  

Military personnel mobilized more than 30 days after September 11, 2001 are eligible to participate in the event. North Dakota National Guard soldiers are sent letters to submit an application online and soldiers of various ranks are chosen. Sponsors, landowners and master huntsmen also volunteer their time; along with military attache, military participants who return as volunteers. The group has also been joined by Tweed Roosevelt, the great-grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, and Ted McKnight, former Kansas City Chiefs running back.

The event begins with a banquet and social on Friday night at the Bismarck Elks Club. Early Saturday morning participants travel with their hunting teams to western North Dakota to hunt and the day concludes with a banquet in Medora to honor the event's landowners and volunteers. On Sunday the teams again hunt and then travel back to Bismarck where the event wraps up with a grilled lunch.

Hunting Dakota with Roosevelt was the brain child of Roger Krueger, a former American Cancer Society staff executive and current president of the Great Plains Benefit Group, after he began thinking of ways to combine his passions for the military, the fight against cancer and the sportsmen/landsmen relationship.

In 2008 he asked Jon Hanson, a retired North Dakota Army National Guard colonel and current North Dakota Game and Fish hunter education coordinator, to join him in putting together the event; and, along with the support of the Bismarck Cancer Center, sponsors and volunteers, 10 Army and Air National Guard members on five hunting teams participated in the first annual event.

Since that time, 44 military members have been honored through a weekend of hunting and camaraderie in western North Dakota and more than $100,000 has been raised for the Bismarck Cancer Center Foundation with the help of a growing number of sponsors and volunteers.

This year's event will host 16 military members on 11 hunting teams. Event sponsors and hunting partners are traveling from across North Dakota, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Minnesota, and Maryland to participate. It is also expected close to 140 people will be in attendance at Friday night's banquet and over 150 individuals will attend the landowners recognition banquet in Medora on Saturday night, where over 20 landowners will be honored.

This is truly an event that is making a lasting impact on many individuals in North Dakota and will likely continue to do so well into the future. "We started out to give our participants the hunt of a lifetime," says Krueger. "But I think we may have given them a bit more." 

Hunting Dakota with Roosevelt is featured in the Fall 2011 issue of North Dakota Horizons, on newstands now. Be sure to pick up a copy to learn more about this great event. For additional information you can also visit the event's website at www.huntingdakotawithroosevelt.com.       

Chantelle Albers: A North Dakota-grown actress

By Nicolette Borlaug, Staff Assistant, North Dakota Horizons

For anyone who ever said “You can’t do that,” there’s almost always someone who will say, “Yes, I can,” right back at them. Chantelle Albers is one of those people. Chantelle had decided she wanted to be an actress, and she’s done just that.

I’ve known Chantelle since we were young. She grew up in Center and I lived in Washburn. We even competed against each other in high school speech and drama. My friends and family always enjoyed watching her perform in local productions at Sleepy Hollow Theatre in Bismarck where she was the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz and Dolly Tate in Annie Get Your Gun.

Now, Chantelle lives in California and has been working on numerous roles in film and television. She has been the lead in four films and three web series thus far. She has also appeared in commercials for Mercedes Benz and Little Caesars.

At North Dakota Horizons we like to cover our neighbors who are doing great things with their careers.

To learn more about Chantelle and see her recent work, “like” her Facebook page and check out her website. No matter what your dreams may be and no matter how many people tell you it’s not possible, think of Chantelle!

Remembering 61 in '61 -- 50 Years Later

By Andrea Winkjer Collin, Editor, North Dakota Horizons

If you have ties to North Dakota and are a fan of major league baseball, you already know the excitement of this time in 1961.

North Dakota's Roger Maris created a stir every time his New York Yankees played ball that year.  50 years ago yesterday, on September 9, 1961, he hit home run #56 against then-Cleveland Indians and future Minnesota Twins pitcher "Mudcat" Grant.  Excitment continued to build that he would beat the long-held season homerun record of the legendary Babe Ruth, which had stood for 34 years.

Those following Maris would be teased for an entire week -- it took him until September 16 to hit Homerun #57. But the homeruns kept coming, and on October 1 -- the very last game of the season -- on his second time "at bat" -- Maris hit homerun #61. The following website has more information on each of Maris's homeruns during the 1961 season: www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats12b.shtml.

I was a little young to remember this (the first big baseball event I recall was when the Minnesota Twins made it to the World Series in 1965 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. I was in sixth grade.) But I know my Grandpa Septon, an avid Yankees fan, would have been beside himself!

Maris, whose birthday is today, still holds the American League record for season homeruns.  I am not alone in believing he still is the legitimate major league baseball homerun king, considering the steriods-driven era in which Bonds, McGwire and Sosa all hit more than 61 in a single season. 

Regardless, the legacy of Roger Maris continues to resonate in North Dakota.  Since his death in 1985, a cancer center in Fargo has been named after him and is funded in part by an annual golf tournament that brings many celebrities to Fargo every June. Proceeds from this tournament have raised more than $1.5 million that also supports Fargo's Hospice of the Red River Valley and Maris's alma mater, Shanley High School. He is also buried in Fargo.

The Roger Maris Museum, (at right) located at Fargo's West Acres Mall, which we featured in the Fall 2004 issue of North Dakota Horizons, has been renovated.  For those who haven't visited it lately, it is worth another stop.  

Celebrations observing this anniversary are planned at Yankee Stadium at a pre-game ceremony on September 23.  Fargo has had several events this year already, and willl have a "61 for 61 Home Run Walk" on September 25, and a another three-day fundraiser that begins on the 22nd.

Another bit of excitement for Fargo this year has been the enrollment of Maris's grandson, Richie, at North Dakota State University this semester! 

It's not only his baseball accomplishments, but also the sterling character of Roger Maris that continues to bring pride to all who follow major league baseball -- and especially those of us who have ties to North Dakota!

Happy Birthday, Roger Maris, and thanks for the memories!